Generally, vehicles such as automobiles have been financed through a personal loan system, whereby the purchaser borrows money from a financial or lending institution, takes title to the automobile and pays the loan balance in monthly payments which amortize the full amount of the loan. Typically, the financial institution retains a lien interest against the title of the vehicle and the loan is secured by a chattel mortgage thereon. The financial institution may confiscate or repossess the vehicle upon a default condition of the loan, as agreed to by the purchaser or as provided at law. It is contemplated that a default condition may arise where the loan payments are delinquent for a predetermined interval. Thus, the vehicle is used as collateral for the loan used to purchase the vehicle.
Additionally, lease arrangements are entered into whereby the lessee makes monthly rental payment, returning the vehicle to the lessor at the end of a predetermined term specified in the lease. Title typically remains with the lessor. It is sometimes specified in the lease that the lessee may at the lessee's option purchase the vehicle when the lease expires. In the event that the lessee defaults in making lease payments, the lessor may confiscate or repossess the vehicle.
Thus, upon a default condition of the loan or lease (these terms may be used interchangeably herein) the lending institution may seek to confiscate the loan collateral, i.e., the vehicle. Thus, the lending. institution will authorize repossession personnel to confiscate the vehicle. Such confiscation processes may potentially require extensive resources and result in a time consumptive, expensive endeavor. Typically, the repossession personnel being the confiscation process with nothing more than the vehicle holder's last known billing address. Not only may such address be no longer valid, the vehicle may not be kept or stored at such location. Moreover, the individual responsible for the loan may even be actively avoiding being located and the vehicle being repossessed.